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...........Speaking of Indians, is there anyone that can tell me why jackson made them walk the trail of tears? For some reason I have this feeling that the liberal education system taught me something that was designed to make students hate Americans.

In order to gain a modicum of understanding of the Trail of tears, you must study Jackson himself. I recommend "American Lion" by Jon Meacham as a book that will help you put Jackson at the proper spot in history.

To Jackson, and most others in the early 1800's, the Indian populations were a danger to the expanding American population. And the Indians, indeed, had done themselves no favors by attacking innocent settlers in Alabama and other places. Read about the Battle of Fort Mims. Settlers were afraid, and had reason to be afraid.

Even of you don't study the issue, you should be made aware that the Indians were given a choice that they could either become American citizens, or be relocated. Some simply became law abiding citizens.

The usual bureaucratic bungling of the army was the cause of so many Indian deaths, I believe. After all, the Indians were placed in charge of soldiers who had spent years fighting the Indians and had lost innocent family members to Indian raids.

It's difficult for me to judge Jackson too harshly. I'm looking at the situation from the 21st century, when it's been over 100 years since Indians posed threats to settlers. Or, from the 1950s perspective of an old white woman who lived on the frontier as a child, and who listened to both her mother's dislike and hatred for Indians and her father's respect for them, and his occasional anti-government rants (Laura Ingalls Wilder).

In retrospect, I wish that the treatment of native americans had been different, but again, it's easy to say that 150 years later.

It's a totally made up holiday. I don't know anyone who actually celebrates it.

And Hallmark wastes time and money making up cards and other trinkets. Some say that it is their choice but to make up for the lost revenue due to the inevitable destroying of stuff that didn't sell, the cost is passed on to the stuff that actually sells.